02/18/08 Wine Impacts Washington

Wine Impacts Washington. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The Washington wine industry is not longer an infant. It is a full grown young adult that is making its own way according to Robin Pollard, Executive Director of the Washington Wine Commission. POLLARD: The full economic impact of Washington grapes and wine in Washington totals $3 billion dollars and when you take that on a national scale it's W$4.7 billion dollars. The Washington Wine Commission and the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers recently released the details of their joint economic impact statement. The wine industry is really bringing a lot to the state. POLLARD: We were particularly pleased with seeing what a significant increase in winery revenues. We've realized since 1999  so it's increased from $289 million to $436 million. We've seen a pretty big impact of jobs. On a national level it's 19-thousand jobs. And while those numbers are quite important it is also important to look at what the industry is doing from the consumer side. POLLARD: The increase in wine related tourism expenditures in 2006 we saw a total of $238 million dollars that was spent by visitors traveling to the various wine regions around the state, visiting wineries, purchasing wine, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.